Pore-scale simulation of miscible viscous fingering with dissolution reaction in porous media
Timan Lei, Kai Luo
Abstract
Global climate change is happening but may be mitigated by the technology of geological carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. To gain comprehensive insights into this approach, we perform pore-scale simulations of displacement between two miscible fluids in porous media using a new multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model. This study marks the first attempt to investigate viscous fingering dynamics in miscible displacement, considering the coexistence of viscosity contrast and dissolution reaction. Simulation results capture different fingering patterns that depend on dissolution (Damköhler number Da), diffusion (Peclet number Pe), and viscosity contrast (viscosity ratio R). From simulations of unstable viscous flows, dissolution is found to delay fingering onset, slow down fingering propagation, and inhibit or reinforce the late-stage fingering intensity. In simulations with stable viscosity contrasts, the displacement features fingering phenomena when dissolution is fast enough. In addition, we conduct a parametric study to assess the impact of Pe, R, and Da. The results suggest that increasing Pe or R destabilizes fingering, but increasing Da first suppresses and gradually intensifies fingering. Finally, for every fixed Da, we determine the phase boundary between stable and unstable regimes in a Pe–R phase plane. A unified scaling law is developed to approximate boundary lines obtained under different Da values. By comparing reactive and nonreactive cases, we classify four distinct regimes: stable, unstable, reactive stable, and reactive unstable. These pore-scale insights are helpful in understanding and predicting the displacement stability during the geological CO2 sequestration, which is of importance to the pre-evaluation of the storage efficiency and safety.